Episode 295- GM Gregory Kaidanov- One of the US’ top players and trainers on Maintaining Motivation, Imparting Lessons to Students, and his Long Journey from the USSR to the US.

This week we are joined by renowned trainer, and one of the most accomplished players on the American Chess circuit, GM Gregory Kaidanov. GM Kaidanov was ranked as high as top 20 in the world, and has accumulated a wealth of chess wisdom and memorable stories from his decades in the game. In our interview, Gregory takes us through his famously difficult journey from the former Soviet Union to Kentucky, and shares great chess advice based on his observations coaching many scholastic champions and future GMs as well as adult chess enthusiasts. Speaking of adult chess enthusiasts, Gregory himself, remains active as a chess player and recently qualified for one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world, the FIDE World Cup. Gregory discusses how he stays motivated and how he has adjusted his tournament planning over the years. This is a long, but fun conversation. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. Show notes and timestamps of topics discussed can be found below.  0:00- GM Gregory Kaidanov qualified for the FIDE World Cup at 62 years of age! What motivated him to play the qualifier in El Salvador? Mentioned: Episode 149 with GM Robert Hungaski, Episode 280 With GM Ben Finegold, Mike Klein’s 2009 profile of GM Gregory Kaidanov: http://uscf1-nyc1.aodhosting.com/CL-AND-CR-ALL/CL-ALL/2009/2009_All.pdf 9:00- As a full time trainer and occasional player, how does GM Kaidanov choose what tournaments to compete in?  Mentioned: Sitges Spain 2022 11:00- How does GM Kaidanov work on his own game?  Mentioned: IM Greg Shahade, IM John Donaldson  16:00- GM Kaidanov discusses the underrated utility of “solitaire chess” as a training method and shares advice on how to approach it.  Mentioned: GM Bent Larsen, Episode 291 with GM Alex Fishbein 23:00- Who is GM Kaidanov’s favorite player to study via solitaire chess?  25:00- What was it like to play his chess hero, Anatoly Karpov?  Mentioned: GM Dmitry Gurevich, GM Alexander Shabalov  28:00- Perpetual Chess is brought to you in part by Chessable.com. You can check